One thing that doesn’t get talked about enough is that Black soldiers fought in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War and in many cases served alongside White soldiers in integrated units. This was nearly 170 years before the U.S. military was formally desegregated in 1948.
Historians estimate that thousands of Black men fought for the Patriot cause. Some were free, some were enslaved and promised freedom for service. Their participation wasn’t symbolic. They were present at major battles and part of the core fighting force.
It’s a reminder that Black military service didn’t begin in the Civil War. It was there at the founding. The American story has always included Black sacrifice and Black contribution, even when the country failed to live up to its own ideals.
That complexity is part of the history too.
